If I took a quick poll, I bet most folks would label Memorial Day as the official start of Summer. People who have family members who died in combat have a different perspective because of their personal loss. It’s hard to recapture the honorable origins of Memorial Day from it’s historical roots. Maybe this year we will reflect on the voluntary loss of freedom in the wake of the COVID “pandemic.” The toilet paper shortages are disappearing and the beaches are opening up, but before we get back to our normal “busyness”, maybe we can dedicate a few minutes of our families’ time to discuss freedom and what it costs.
How were you impacted but the economic shutdown? What part did fear play in your mind and decisions? What was the financial cost to your family? Did the government help you (stimulus, small business loans, unemployment assistance)? Did the government hurt you (extended closures, bad decisions)?
What could you have done differently to be better prepared to navigate through COVID craziness?
The Trial of Socrates offers interesting parallels to the current debate over the limits of our government in the face of a public health scare. The philosopher was associated with the Thirty Tyrants who were overthrown. Socrates was perceived to prefer Technocracy instead of majority rule. He espoused that political decisions should be made based on facts and data that only learned and capable leaders possessed. Only these leaders on Socrates view would be competent to make the best decisions for Athens citizens. Do the names Trump, Cuomo, Fauci and Brix come to mind?
At the end of the trial, Socrates was faced with the option to flee Athens in exile or accept his death sentence. At 70 years old, he chose the latter and downed a glass of Hydroxychloroquine. Not really it was actually poison hemlock.
Socrates was credited with the phrase “The unexamined life is not worth living” in the writings of one of his young disciples named Plato. This is the takeaway for us today. We’ve all faced an exile of sorts in the mandated quarantine rules. What did we learn from it? Have you discovered an appreciation for something after it was taken away during quarantine? What are you thankful for? What is important to you?
Before summer gets started and you bring the seersucker out of storage, take some time to ask yourself some questions. Discuss with your spouse and kids what they could live without if the past few moths became a permanent way of life. What should you leave in quarantine even after they end? Use the Memorial Day break to give thanks for the men and women who paid the ultimate price so that we have the freedom to contemplate the luxury of modern American life.
America is still the best place on the planet.
